Just Taking the Train
by Fraise Creme
Summary: [TLoZ Oneshots]: This time, Dark and Link will teach Vaati how to take the urban train to school. How will things turn out for them? Events take place right after "Aftermath".


This is a oneshot I thought of after I wrote "Aftermath", something like a depiction of what it's like to have their point of view in their normal lives besides all those big adventures.

This time, Dark and Link teach Vaati how to take the urban train to school. How will things turn out for them? :)

* * *

"Wait, what?" Dark turned again to look at Link.

"You heard me." Link, with his arms crossed, nodded at Dark.

"B-but… but it's our time to get away from that place…!"

At this time, Dark seemed very distressed after he took his time to enjoy his PSP. He was currently playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy using Squall to beat up the game's boss for the umpteenth time. He set his handheld to sleep mode after Link brought up the topic.

"'Come on… Vaati's gotta know it! Look, first thing tomorrow, we go there… then we'll have the whole afternoon all to ourselves." smiled Link as he tried to cheer up the poor shadow.

"… Fine. But just because Vaati needs to know how to get there." pouted Dark as he turned his face away from Link like a spoiled brat.

The blonde smiled at this. He turned his head around to look at his bed. There lay a sleeping Vaati, apparently undisturbed by the dark-haired boy's previous rants. The Hylian-Minish snuggled onto the Hylian hero's soft bed pillows as he smiled sweetly in his sleep.

"Well, aren't you gonna go to sleep already? It's like… 1 in the morning!" Dark said as he continued to play his PSP.

"Yeah, well… 'night then, Dark."

Link went to his own sleeping bag where he usually rests in when Vaati isn't staying in their guest room. He slept beside Dark who kept on playing his PSP until he needed to charge it.

And night soon turned to day…

The boys were at the table eating a hearty breakfast with Smith that early morning. Link seemed to be all excited as he performed his neat trick of fast hot porridge eating while Dark looked so glum, eating his hotdog sandwich slowly as if he were a zombie. Vaati was as courteous as always at breakfast; he always observed proper table manners and maintained a good poise as he ate.

"Hey, grandpa!" called out Link after he slurped his last spoonful of porridge.

"Yeah?"

"Grandpa, could we go out today? Pleeease?"

"NO! NO! NOOOOoooooo!" Dark slammed his head on the table each time he said the word, and finally settled his head on it for the last time, face down. He seemed to be murmuring something.

"Well…" Smith was a bit uncertain with how Dark reacted. "Where are you going, anyway?"

"Ah, well… you know that Vaati's gonna be with us here, right?" Link said as he looked at the said boy. "So, Dark and I will teach him how to ride the train going to our school!"

"SCHOOL! EFF THAT WORD WITH SOMETHING HARD AND SANDPAPERYYYY!" Dark said as his head quickly rose from the table.

Link simply raised a brow at him, giving him an exasperated look. He shook his head at this, annoyed by the fact that Dark doesn't want to give in. He then looked at his grandfather again.

"I don't see what's wrong with it." the kind blacksmith shrugged his shoulders.

"SCHOOOOOL. IS NOT COOOOOOOOOOOOL. IT'S CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEL. IT MAKES ME WANNA DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOL." Dark replied with anguish.

"Makes you wanna… what?" Link could not help but repeat.

"Drool. You know? Sleep through classes and drool on my table?"

"You bad influence, you."

"I'm gonna go to school?" they heard the youngest boy say. His beautiful ruby eyes seemed to be full of delight.

Dark looked at Vaati with sadness. He went over to the shorter boy and put his hands on his shoulders.

"It's horrible, Vaati. Just horrible. You don't wanna go there… I don't want you to suffer the same fate." Dark said with a very sad face.

"Oh come on… you're only acting like that because it's in the middle of our autumn break!"

"Shut up!"

"Boys, stop arguing." Smith gave them a stern look, making them follow as he told them to. He then smiled at his grandchild. "Link, I think that's a very thoughtful idea. Go ahead and teach him how."

"Yeah, just you." Dark pouted at Link.

"Don't you want to take him to school?" Link smiled slyly at the shadow.

Dark sadly looked at Vaati, who was looking back at him. The purple haired boy looked at him with big ruby eyes, as if pleading for him to come with them. He squinted his eyes and groaned, knowing that he had no other choice.

"Okay, okay…" Dark said as he turned away and left the dining area.

Vaati followed Dark with his eyes and asked Link, "I-Is he angry…?"

"Naw, he'd never get angry with things like that. I think that he's just getting ready to go there. We should, too." Link said as he assured Vaati.

And so, they did prepare themselves to go to school. Classes weren't in session, so there was no need to wear school uniforms. They all decided to wear their civilian clothes; Dark being semi-punk, Link being casual, and Vaati being conservative.

The way to get in the train station was through the mall…

The mall itself was still closed for it was still too early, around 7 in the morning, and all that they could see were closed stalls. All that was open in the mall were the paths for people to get into their own trains, one headed for east and west, and one headed for north and south. People were rushing for work, heading for the same train station they were headed; the west express train. Some people rushed to the east express train, but only very few compared to the number the three considered themselves in.

They arrived outside of the train station in the third floor of the mall.

"Wow… everyone's rushing to their own trains…" said Vaati. "And what's this line for? Is there something going on?"

"Nothing." Dark grumbled. "Thing is, this has always been a custom for us. We all have to get in line BY GENDER to be quickly inspected by guards to get in the station."

"You see, terrorist attacks such as Ganondorf's former attempts to rule over Hyrule have taken our security to a whole new different level. So, just so that no one is attempting to bring along a magical shard or a bomb, we go through this." Link explained.

"Aaaaahhh… I see. But wouldn't that be tedious?" Vaati asked. "I mean, look at all the people in line…"

"Senior citizens are granted the privilege not to get treated like this, but it's for our own betterment anyway…" Link explained even more. "I mean, imagine having to ride in a train with a villain!"

Vaati paused and looked up at Link for a while, then let out a whimper not long after.

"HEY." Dark glared at Link.

"Uh… that is… HEY. Dark, you're next in line already." Link finally found a way to divert their attention.

"Ah." Dark quickly turned to the guard, waiting for him beside the table.

He laid his bag on the table and allowed the male guard to inspect quickly through his belongings. He used his stick to look at Dark's belongings without having to touch them with his hands. As Dark closed his bag, the guard searched him just a bit to make sure that he's not hiding something in his pocket.

"That's what you need to do, and you're just fine." whispered Link to his shorter friend who was next to be searched. "Don't worry, I'm right here behind you."

Vaati was a bit nervous. He wasn't so sure of this, since he wasn't used to anyone touching him, let alone someone he doesn't even know to begin with.

The guard did the same procedure as he had done with Dark, with Vaati a bit nervous about the whole thing. He kept it all in, trusting the hero's words, and trusted the guard-on-duty as well.

As soon as the guard was done inspecting him, he went to Dark who was in line to get their tickets in one of the automated machines. The machine looks kind of like a vending machine, complete with an opening for one to get their drinks or food.

"I-I thought the line for the tickets was that way!" Vaati was now confused.

"Well, that's also an option, but then we need an exact amount of money in the morning, or else they wouldn't have enough rupees to give us for change." Dark told the confused Hylian-Minish. "What's more, it's a lane for the 'stored value' card. Y'know, instead of going in this line each and every day, you get a card that has a hundred rupees value."

Dark then showed a white plastic card which looks like a floppy credit card of some sort with red and blue stripes.

"I don't get it much… but I do understand it a little." Vaati tried his best to understand, which Dark appreciated.

It was finally Dark's turn to get their tickets from the machine. "Watch closely." he told his younger friend.

Dark pushed a button which corresponds to the name of the street where their destination is near and inserted some bills and crystal rupees in the corresponding slots. Soon after, rupees fell from an opening below from where the food must come out from an ordinary vending machine. The black-haired youth picked them up and stood up once more to get a ticket from the ticket slot.

The ticket appeared to be similar to the plastic card the dark youth had shown earlier, only it had the emblem of the Royal Hylian family as its design instead of the stripes.

"One down, two more to go." winked Dark at Vaati. "Just rinse and repeat."

"What are those rupees that fell? Was it a refund?" Vaati grew curious.

"Nope. If it was a refund, then the rupees must've fallen there as soon as I inserted 'em. Also, the bills should've been rejected. And I wouldn't even get this card in the first place. They're your change. My money wasn't of exact amount, so…"

Dark continued to get two more tickets before they left. They met up with the hero in the section where free newspaper and tabloids were offered for the early birds. Apparently, there were no tabloids left since there were a lot who came before them… as early as 6 in the morning.

"Cool." said Link, getting his card from Dark.

"Where do we use these?" asked Vaati.

"Well, do you see this arrow near this little hole over here?" the hero pointed to a small arrow pointing upwards just beside a small hole. "Whenever you see these, remember that it's the right side up. That's how you should insert your card in the machine we're going to."

They went to one of the multiple machines which appeared half their height. The silver machines stood there, with black circles in each of their upper right corners and three diagonal metal bars with a common endpoint that rotated and isolated each one passing through, much like ones you'd see in a grocery store or any place else requiring people to come in one by one (a turnstile, as Dark later told Vaati). These metal bars were stuck to the side of the machine.

The black circles were little electronic displays. Some had green diagonal arrows in them, while some had red X's. There was a little horizontal red slot in the center above the black circles bulging out of the machine.

"See that little slot? Insert your card there with the right side up. Remember how I showed you the card?" Link instructed his shorter friend.

"Here, watch me." Dark said, going ahead of them.

Vaati examined how Dark inserted the card in the slot and how it reappeared on top of the center of the machine. The rebel youth took his ticket and proceeded past the turnstiles, pushing the upper bar forward so that he may enter.

"Alright…" Vaati said, doing as Dark had done. Link then followed after him.

"I'm sure you saw the display just near that slot above that machine." Link said as he kept his card. "That shows how much money is in that little card."

"We got enough money in there just to go through one trip." Dark added. "The card with the family emblem has an exact fare; unlike that striped card I showed you that has a hundred rupees worth in it."

Now they came across a wide space with a pair of stairs and escalators in each side. Each escalator has a staircase beside it, and each escalator was either going up or going down. They chose the escalator on the left which will lead them upstairs.

As they went up…

"I saw another set of similar machines at the other side… those things that we just went through, you know? Um… where are those headed?" asked Vaati.

"Well, they go the same way, Vaati." Link explained. "Y'know, like math equations. There are a lot of equations of ways to get to a single answer."

"Now listen, you have seen the displays up there which told you 'THIS WAY TO…' D1NN3R." Dark was in a loss for words in explaining.

"What?" Link blurted out.

"Anyways, that display tells us which place is the final destination of the train…"

They finally arrived at the actual train station with a lot of people waiting for the next train ride. They could see the skies from up there, just outside the roof that covered them from the sunshine. The area was open so that they may feel the cool morning wind caress their faces.

"So we're going the last destination which is Castor Wilds, Farore Street… yes, people sometimes go there for work. There are already some modernized parts there so that they may work to improve Castor Wild's tourism status." Dark told Vaati.

"Well, the train's coming any second now…" said Link, looking at the LED displays way above the people's heads.

"We'll be stopping at Twilight Street. If you hear the announcer say 'Arriving at Twilight', we'll alight from the train, okay?"

Vaati nodded at this and tried to keep all these in his head.

_'Wow… I had no idea a lot has changed these past years… Hyrule sure has changed ever since I tried to take over it…'_ thought Vaati to himself, seeing the changes that had been happening.

Hyrule turned into a mini city flowering with plants and blooming with civilization and convenience… it sure has been quite an improvement on Hyrule's part, but he kind of missed the good old days when he saw it no more than a simple village.

The pale boy jumped when he heard a loud honk from a presumably nearby horn. At this, Dark chuckled and tried not to laugh at him.

"W-what was that?" said Vaati, trying so hard not to panic.

Link put an arm around him, brought him to a small embrace, and comforted him. "That's just the train's horn, Vaati. It's arrived."

The train swooshed in front of them, causing a sudden gust of wind to whiz at the nearby passengers waiting for their train. Dark was a bit annoyed since his hairstyle was a bit messed up due to the said wind and that he had to fix it.

"Karma. Karma, karma, karma!" the hero pointed a finger at his shadow self.

"Shut the f- up."

The train then halted in its tracks. Since it was the city station, the waiting station had marks on them to indicate which spots match the train doors. The trio then was a bit squished in the train traffic.

"Dark? Where's Dark?" Vaati grew worried. He didn't like the feeling of being with a number of people rushing at just one certain place.

Link held onto Vaati tight and was apparently ready for the rush hour. It was then that someone pulled his arm from inside the train. He was shocked, but was relieved to see who had just pulled him in through the crowd.

"Hey, if you're gonna teach Vaati how to get on trains, do it right." Dark said after he got enough room for the three of them in the train just before the door closed.

"Heh. Well… ah, hold onto these rails, Vaati." Link said, holding Vaati close to him so that he may not get lost in the crowd. The boy nodded and did as he was instructed. "Isn't it rude to just push people aside?"

"Don't they all the time?"

"Still, it's not right! Just because everyone does a bad thing doesn't make it a good thing."

The train began to move as the recorded voice of a female announcer spoke, "Next station, Oracle."

"Link… it just needs a bit of what you call, 'wits'. You can be streetwise without being rude, you know. Hah, betcha I can teach Vaati better than you!"

Link huffed and frowned and decided to just look at the view outside. They could see various houses and streets, as well as a big number of trees in each of the house's lawns. There are also overpasses for some major streets and intersections, which the people use for safe street crossing.

"Look, Vaati. Do you see another set of train tracks down there?" said Link, trying to point outside through the crowd.

"Ummm…. down there with a blue-and-white train?" Vaati was a bit unsure.

"Uh-huh. That's the MRT or the Metro Rail Transit. If this transit provides rides going east and west, that train goes north and south. But really, we hardly go there since our house is already in the city."

"People from farther places like Kakariko need that train, you see." Dark said. "But they can't bring cuccos in the train cart for the people. They have their own carriage, chugging behind us."

"B-but won't they sniff all the smoke from the train?" asked the Hylian-Minish worriedly.

"Don't worry, they're perfectly fine." Dark comforted Vaati and brought him to an embrace. "They have to be, their time's almost up… soon they'll be delivered to the nearest KFC branch, which is by the way, near our school."

"NO!" cried Vaati loudly. At this, the crowd unanimously stared at the three, most especially the two young former villains.

Dark immediately let go of him so that no one may suspect either of them. He looked to his left and to his right… as expected, all eyes were focused on him and Vaati.

"Uh… HE DID IT!" Dark pointed at Link out of the blue.

"W-WHAT?!" yelled Link in surprise who was busy trying to think up of what to show Vaati next. "Excuuuuuuuse me!"

"Arriving at Oracle." said the announcer as they were approaching the next station.

"The cleanest station." giggled Dark as he whispered to Vaati. "Because hardly anyone uses it."

They soon arrived at the next station called Oracle Street. The shadow youth was right; not many people were there, and not many people in the train seemed to be planning to go out any time soon. The train didn't seem to be feeling any less stuffy…

"The next station will be our destination." Link said, still feeling a bit uneasy in the crowd. He seemed to avoid any eye contact with either of the two.

The boy with the lavender hair grew a bit worried for his blonde friend. He felt that something was wrong ever since Dark humiliated him a while ago.

"Link…"

The train started to move again after a while, causing him to stumble a bit, but with the crowd cushioning the blow, he managed to grab onto the nearby metal pole which served as a handrail for those who stood in the aisle of the train.

"Next station, Twilight." the announcer spoke out.

They then heard a recorded male's voice say out loud from the speakers,  
"To all our valued passengers, please observe the following for your safety and protection while inside the train.  
Be considerate to others. Avoid talking loudly and playing loud music from your handheld devices such as cellphones and MP3 players.  
Always occupy the center aisle of the train for easy boarding and alighting.  
Always take care of your ticket and other belongings.  
Be courteous, and give way to the elderly, pregnant, and persons with disabilities.  
Always hold on to safety handrails and avoid leaning on train doors.  
The courtesy area is intended for pregnant women, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and on-duty LRTA employees only.  
Thank you for patronizing the LRT. Wishing you a safe and convenient journey!"

"Yep. We hear that every day." Dark said, not giving eye contact as his eyes were focused at the scenery outside. "It keeps ringing in my head actually, and it's ironic to actually see some of the many people who board this train not following this."

They fell silent for a while, as Link and Dark seemed to be absorbed in something; both in their own worlds. The long-haired boy can do nothing but just stare outside, familiarizing himself with the scenery so that he may know all of these by school season.

"… Oh, look, Vaati." the blonde said, attempting to break the awkward silence among them. "Someone owns a fish pond there. See all the little carps?"

Indeed, there was a lime pool of numerous carroty gold carps, all swimming to form a naturally beautiful pattern that fish mostly do. Water was gushing down the pond from a pipe, glimmering in the morning sun. They then saw that a house was to the north of the pool. Someone must have really liked taking care of these carps.

"Arriving at Twilight." said the announcer.

The train began to slow down after a few seconds the announcer had said the usual line for every station that they passed, passing by a prestigious yet simple-looking school. Vaati saw some silver-plated letters plastered near the front gates of the school that read, 'Blue Maiden College'.

The train stopped soon after that, and they found themselves among a number of passengers alighting from the train. They went down a similar-looking staircase next to a similar-looking row of glass windows, revealing some of the view of the outside world as well as the guard stand which the Hylian-Minish presumed they shall pass to get to the two Links' school, which will be his as well, in due time.

Link let the Minish go first to check if he did learn something. As Vaati slid the card into the silver machine for the second time, he panicked for it did not come out as he expected.

"No, no, Vaati… it's alright. It's supposed to do that." Link said. "It means that the card's value is nil, and that the machine will just accept it."

"Ah… ooooh…" Vaati came to realize quite the ruckus he had caused, and lowered his head so that his cherry cheeks may hide in his jacket. "I'm sorry." he let out a sheepish smile which showed in his ruby eyes.

"It's alright." Dark smirked.

The dark-haired youth saw that Link had inserted his own card in the similar looking machine that they had seen earlier. Now that Vaati knew how to use these things, he thought of something to lighten up the atmosphere.

As Link's card was already on the upper slot of the machine, he took it and went through the metal bars instead of the hero! He let out a slight smile as he heard Link trying to get past the bars… but he couldn't. He handed the hero's card to him. As the panicking hero tried to let himself out, the card doesn't really work for him anymore.

"Guard!" the blonde called out.

Soon after, the guard fixed the problem. They took Dark's card instead and let the hero pass. The black-haired boy excused himself by saying he had grabbed the wrong card by mistake and that he had been half-conscious as he felt himself a bit woozy at the time due to the crowd. And yes, the guard accepted this excuse, but Link didn't.

"You sneaky little…" he gave Dark a noogie as they both laughed going outside of the station through the stairs leading outside.

They saw that the train railings have indeed overshadowed a part of Twilight Street, making its name kind of justify its appearance. It looks modern, seeing all the cars venture out in the streets. And just across the street from where they stood outside the station, they saw a pizza parlor next to another train outlet. Vaati presumed that it led to the other set of stairs he saw earlier opposite theirs.

They turned to face the school Vaati had seen earlier which was just across the other street to their side. It seems that the intersection met just near the school, and so many vehicles and people alike were with them. As the traffic light glowed green for the cars they were parallel to their paths, they crossed the street carefully.

"See, Vaati? This is how you cross streets." Link said gently, putting an arm around him to keep him safe. "Look to your left, since that is where the cars will come from."

"And don't forget," said Dark. "That this is a one-way lane. Other streets are two-way lanes, so you have to look to your left and to your right if ever we go to one of those."

They crossed the street safely, oddly just the three of them going towards the school and no one else. Link was expecting some people to go along with them to pass by their school to go to work, but he guessed that they had been too early.

They approached the school grounds, the guard by his station with some other guards. Link showed them passes and IDs of some sort to him and allowed the two Links to pass by.

"Vaati, you'd better wear this." said Link, putting on an ID lace about his neck with a laminated card that hung from it. "It's your visitor's ID."

"But don't worry," Dark added. "You won't be wearing that for long because you'll study with us next school year. Just prove them that you're just as smart as us, or you'll be accelerated to a different level!"

_'It's a wonder that you weren't accelerated,'_ thought Link to himself. '_To be honest, Dark, I feel inferior whenever I get near you… your superior intellect; your innate talents… they are similar to mine, yet…'_

"Well, come on. Let me show you the most important place of all…" he said as he grabbed Vaati's wrist and tugged him along gently.

_'Your talents are the same as mine… and I do appreciate that you have called me a "Jack-Of-All-Trades, Master of None"… but you are the "Jack-Of-All-Trades, Master of __**All**__".'_thought Link as he followed them, trying to keep his head up despite him thinking that.

"Here we are." said Dark, standing before a double door with vertical rectangle glasses on each one so that they may peek in.

The inside was pleasant; a counter with one or two people operating it, a clock hung on the wall to tell the time, glossy tiles covered the floor, and cushioned benches sat on one side of the place.

"Daaaaark…" Link said exasperatedly.

"What? It's my escape fort. The most important place in the school." defended Dark. He then opened the doors and tugged Vaati from behind him.

_'…But that's the only thing… you are indeed lazy.'_ thought Link as he shook his head. _'That is the only reason Vio surpasses you in school… but you are the same level as he is without even trying…'_

"What is this place? It feels so calm here…" Vaati exclaimed.

_'What more could you have succeeded in if you tried hard and studied? God, Dark, you could be an honor student… or maybe even a candidate for the honorable mention!'_

"This is the clinic." Dark said. "My haven from all those studying."

_'But I can't force you to be like Vio, whose passion is to study. You guys are still different though you are the same person.'_Link gave a surreptitious smile at his shadow, who began to tell the school pediatrician that he was there merely to show Vaati around for the next school year.

The clinic was cooled with the air conditioning units all round the place, making it comfortably cold for the patients. The bed were all in a row on the glossy tiles, with a divider so that people may not see anyone who sleeps here to keep their privacy.

"This is where I mostly sleep," said Dark, sitting on a bed just under an air conditioning unit. "As you can clearly see why."

"I believe I do." giggled Vaati.

"Dark," called out Link to his shadow. "Aren't we going on about the library and the classrooms?"

"Wait, I have yet to show him the second most important place in the school." Dark said. "Without it, students may not be able to last the day."

Dark then gestured Vaati to come along with him and follow him to this so-called important place, and Link just shook his head and followed them. He and his shadow were both at Vaati's sides, pointing to him the different places they had passed by, such as the giant statue of the school's patron saint, which was the main reason why the school was so religious and ecologically-conscious. The buildings, and most especially…

"The second most important place in the school!" introduced Dark.

Link gave himself a facepalm, almost blaming himself as to why he let Dark teach all these things to innocent Vaati, who seemed to take things rather well.

"The canteen…?" said Link rather exasperatedly.

"Yes, the canteen." Dark replied. "If you couldn't eat at the canteen, wouldn't you die in all those classes? You won't be able to think straight!"

"Yeah, right. You only label this place as such since this is where you head before going outside while cutting classes."

"Cutting classes…?" Vaati began to question Dark who looked rather embarrassed by now.

Dark's pale cheeks had begun to glow red as he tried to look straight into Vaati's eyes.

"Cutting classes," he finally spoke. "is cutting classes."

"What are you getting at?" Link said suspiciously, for he knew that Dark had a way out of it somehow.

"It's a class where we cut various things; mostly hair. Maybe I can cut Link's hair sometime as a demonstration." Dark smirked evilly at Link which caused the latter to flinch away a bit.

Vaati's eyes gleamed with childlike joy. "Oh! You're a barber, then?"

"Yep, a future barber."

_'Holy Rick Rolls, he's going to butcher my hair!'_thought Link as he panicked in his mind.

"Teeheehee, anywaaaays~" Dark handed some kind of a brochure to Vaati. "Well, if ever you'll need help, here's that short school manual with its map."

Dark gave the brochure to Vaati. It contained simple school rules like how students should wear their uniforms, how they should wear their IDs at all times, and other stuff like that. He saw the different places: the canteen, the clinic, the classrooms, the faculty rooms, the gymnasium…

"These are the faculty rooms for the high school students since we're going to enroll you in the high school department just like us!" smiled Dark who led the group to the faculty rooms in the ground floor.

"Now we're going to the most important place for real." Link said with emphasis, making it clear to Dark that he mustn't dement Vaati's way of thinking about school.

Link led them to the higher classrooms. "Since we're higher than freshmen next year, our classroom would probably be one of these." He pointed out the classrooms that stood by with two pairs of double doors by each side of the classroom for easy entrance and exit.

"The teacher passes by the front doors and the students pass by the backdoors," told Link to Vaati. "But really, sometimes we don't follow those rules anymore just as long as it's lunch break. It's just a manner of courtesy to the teachers."

"We love the teachers here," said Dark with a gleam in his eyes. "but I hate the students. I'm not at all friendly with them. They condemned that I'm a bad guy, so why bother?"

_'Oh, Dark…'_ thought Link with pity. _'All those years ago… I'm so sorry you had to go through that…'_

He remembered the rough past Dark had had. Although, he can't help but be curious about Dark's past again. All he ever saw was a glimpse. He swore he never saw it from the eagle's view; meaning, he really never saw Dark's life as a whole.

What could have happened all those years ago?

He tried to shake off those thoughts and tried to focus more on teaching Vaati the school rules and places. Dark said that he needed to take a leak so he let the two go. He just instructed them to tell him via text message or call through their cellphones where they'd meet up if ever.

"And since no one's here…" Link looked at both ways then gently grabbed Vaati's wrist. "Follow me."

Vaati did not understand, but he trusted Link a lot so he followed him anyway. They went up the red stairs with little pebbles inside them, giving it a little effect so that it wouldn't be plain. But for the sake of convenience, they smoothened it out for the students and teachers. The handrails were made out of wood and gave that authentic 50's design. They passed by around two more staircases until they reached a smaller staircase that led to no other corridors.

Upon climbing this staircase, they saw that there was an isolated room that looked like it wasn't used for years.

"People come and go here to work on their personal businesses like school projects and such." Link explained. "But there's something that no one knows about this place that I do."

"What is it?" Vaati asked Link. They felt no other presence but theirs, looking around the lonely room full of supplies and such, as it was used for prop making and school projects.

"That there's a secret staircase here." Link said, grabbing Vaati's wrist once more and leading him to a door. "Zelda and I used to go here often since I discovered this place. I don't think the custodians go here often, so we're safe. Besides, we're on vacation." he smiled warmly which made Vaati feel more at ease.

He opened the door which said, "HIGH VOLTAGE" in all caps. Although, when they went in, the place wasn't full of wires after all. It looked somewhat like a warehouse and a boiler room all in one. It was pretty dark, and the only light that came in came from the small holes of the door's corners from above.

They approached a metal spiral staircase and climbed up. It led to the door that Vaati had seen from below. Link opened it for the both of them and proceeded.

When they passed by the door, they found themselves outside of the school… but they were in the rooftop. Vaati looked with awe as they can see the city from there… the city in top view. It was beautiful. Since it was still morning, he can see the fog slowly setting in below. The morning breeze blew by the two youths and the warm sun gently touched their faces. The two looked at each other and smiled.

"The cars look like Matchbox from here!" Vaati giggled.

"They do, don't they?" Link chuckled with him.

They shared laughter among themselves and enjoyed the pleasant view. Later they found themselves sitting by the small top of the passage they used to get in, gazing at the birds in the sky along with some leaves that were blown by the refreshing morning wind.

"Do you always come up here?" Vaati asked.

"Not really. Maybe every once in a while." Link answered, then scattered some bird seeds on the cemented ground below them. Immediately, the birds settled and ate the seeds. "But you know, life isn't all about saving the world, studying… or even worrying."

Vaati stared at the blonde. He remembered that Ezlo said the exact opposite of Link. The Minish elder had always told him that in order for life to be to its fullest, he should study, study, and study and take responsibilities.

"We should… just take the load off every once in a while. Live life to its fullest." continued the hero. "But you know… sometimes it's bad to have fun all the time. I mean, if we always did it…" He turned and looked at his friend. "What do you think will happen to us?"

"Too much of a anything is always a bad thing; may it be bad… or simply good in excessive amounts." Vaati clarified the blonde's statement.

"Exactly."

The hero then offered the ex-villain a bag of bird feed and smiled. The smaller of the boys understood this and got a handful of seeds and scattered it on the ground to feed the birds even more. To his delight, even more birds came along and fed on the seeds. He giggled along with his friend, the hero just looking at them.

"You know, I never thought that they could be harmless." Vaati said, giggling. "I mean, they always seem to be hunting for us back when I was in the Minish world!"

"Well, that's because they're hungry." Link explained with his ever-sweet tone. "That's why we're feeding them… so that they won't eat any of your kind."

Vaati smiled at this, knowing he really made the right choice making friends with Link. Guilt settled in him once again, remembering his sin he had done to the hero and his kind, but he tried to shake it off. After all, they did promise to change their way of living to make everything better. Link had finally accepted him, so why make it worse for him by worrying about what was already done?

_'What was done was done.'_ thought Vaati to himself. _'All I could do now is to reflect on those bad past experiences and change for the better.'_

Just convincing himself of this made him feel better. He then turned to the birds and watched them eat peacefully, their heads jerking up and down to get each grain of bird seed on the ground.

"You done yet?"

Vaati looked up at Link and gave him a gesture to elaborate what he just meant.

"I didn't say anything." Link said, quite puzzled.

Vaati was surprised. "Then who…?"

"I said, 'You done yet?' Try to look behind you!"

The two turned their heads and looked behind them.

There he was, floating in mid-air looking at the two beings of light. Who else could it be but the lone shadow of the trio? He swooped down to where the pigeons were, making them fly away from him and leave whatever they were eating. Vaati was not amused.

"Listen, Link. Why don't you log us out of the guard's station while you wait for Vaati and I outside?" the shadow told the hero.

"Huh? Oh, right."

"Link…" Vaati called out. "Why can't we come with you?"

Dark pulled Vaati down and told Link to go ahead.

Once the hero had left, he looked down at Vaati and told him, "You know, we're still taking that one last tour before we meet up with Link. It's called time management, honey."

The Minish looked up at the Shadow Hylian and gave him a worried look. Upon seeing this, the taller of the boys sighed in exasperation.

"What're you giving me that look for?"

Vaati did not answer. The truth is, he felt a lot safer with Link. He hadn't known much about Dark, and this black-haired friend of his has the tendency to get his screws loosened every once in a while. He thought Dark was fine to be a friend, but he didn't know exactly what to feel about the youth.

"Well… um… what tour are we talking about here?" Vaati asked with a shy tone.

Dark smiled at Vaati and hugged him tightly from behind. "You'll see."

It was then that Vaati felt himself getting lighter. What could've given him this feeling? When he looked at the ground, he did confirm that he was indeed floating in mid air with Dark! He felt panic rise up his throat for he remembered that he was in his Hylian form… meaning, he had no wings unlike his monster form!

"D-Dark…!" he cried, holding tight to Dark.

"Hey, ever watch the movie 'Superman'?" said Dark, looking at Vaati while holding him tightly.

"Of course, even Master Ezlo watched it with me with the town Minish but…!"

"Then treat me like I'm Superman giving you a tour around school."

Before the Minish could speak, he felt the two of them fly up to the air, Dark holding him by the torso, making his feet dangle. At first he was scared as he screamed, but seeing the school from the eagle's point of view while flying made him feel that it wasn't so bad after all.

"Dark…" he finally said. Trying to look behind him. "This… this is fun!"

"See? I told you!" Dark smiled at this. He then looked in front of them and said, "Oops!"

There was an obstacle so he ducked his head and laughed. Hearing this made Vaati smile for he doesn't hear him laugh like this often… it wasn't a laugh of a prankster, nor was it a laugh of an evil villain, but rather, it was that of a youngster having fun in life. He was so happy for Dark… he always saw him as a rather controversial youth, trying to keep it all in by making himself happy by expensive gadgets and hanging out with Link often… but he hoped that this would last for Dark.

He hoped that Dark would finally be truly happy and lead a normal life.

"We're here!" Dark said, looking at Link who was standing outside of the gates of the school.

He floated face down as he did before, with Vaati still in front of him although a bit lower so that Link may hop on his back.

"Giddyap, cowboy!" Link said, pretending to slap Dark's hindquarters.

Dark played along and neighed as he bolted off into the sky. They saw the same train just below them, traveling the same speed as they are, but Dark soon left it on its own since it stopped at certain stations. The two were apparently happy with Dark offering them a free unique ride, so the black-haired boy decided to slow down a bit before they arrived at the doorstep of Link's home.

"Now why couldn't we do that all the time?" Vaati asked, fixing his hair from the flight.

Dark pointed at him, then to Link who was also fixing his hair. Then to himself whose hair was a mess. "This is why not."

"In any case, we can take the Dark express every time we go home!" Link chuckled as he fixed his hair along with the others.

"That is - if I'm not too tired." Dark pointed out.

"How could you? You always sleep in class!"

"Well, why exactly do I sleep in class? Isn't it because I'm feeling tired in school?"

"…"

Vaati giggled at their argument as Dark won it again.

"Well, you should've recharged yourself after sleeping all those times during classes." Vaati heard a voice behind him.

"G-Grandpa…" said Dark, blushing and laughing sheepishly.

"Now come on, I've prepared some pasta for all of you." Smith told them, smiling at the three boys.

"PAASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA~!" both of the Links said while rushing in.

Vaati giggled more at this as he was the last to go inside.

_'Ah, it's good to be home again…'_


End file.
